[lancebeet]

I think this issue is caused partly by the design of modern keyboards. Back in the day, keyboards would have clear, lasting, physical markings on the F and J keys and the 5 key on the numpad. They also had special keys that were easily recognized for caps lock, return and so on. This meant you could put your hands almost anywhere on the keyboard and always know where you were. Finding the home row without looking took a fraction of a second. Another feature that keyboards used to have, which is becoming increasingly uncommon today, is grouping of the function keys into fours. This meant you could always press the right function key without looking. Modern keyboards more often than not don't do this, and reliably pressing the right function key without looking is nearly impossible today.

Old keyboards were (generally) designed to allow for touch-typing. Modern keyboards are (generally) designed to be looked at.